95th Rifles 1812 to the Pyrenees

Britain
has traditionally lacked the military power to take on a continental
enemy on its own ground, and as a result has preferred to apply an
indirect strategy for much of her history.

The French Revolution
unleashed a military energy, which in the form of thelevéeen masse, saw off most of the armies of the Ancient
Regime. From the beginning of the Revolutionary Wars, Britain
struggled to maintain successful armies on the mainland of Europe for
any significant period. The list of failed attempts since 1793 was
long crowned in the midst of the first decade of the 19th century by
Hanover and Walcheren. Britain instead trusted to the might (and
expense) of the Royal Navy and pouring English gold into coalition
after coalition against Napoleon.

Lacking significant
tangible success and being firmly in the shadow of the manpower
burden of maintaining the world’s pre-eminent navy, Britain’s
army was not a powerful tool of foreign policy.

However, Napoleon
over-reached himself and deftly turned his erstwhile Spanish ally
against him by usurping the throne in Madrid for his brother, Joseph
Bonaparte. Now an opportunity was created for Britain to intervene on
the very periphery of Europe. In the Iberian Peninsular the small
British Army could play a part, helping create Napoleon’s Spanish
Ulcer and have a chance of maintaining an army in the field in
support of Spain and Portugal.

A soldier of the 95th Rifles. 'Far in Advance' by Christa Hook

Here, despite the divided
and occasionally united effort of Napoleon’s jealous and avaricious
marshals, the British Army won battles and survived by withdrawing to
defensible positions. The most famous of these were, of course, the
pre-prepared Lines of Torres Vedras occupied in the face of
overwhelming pressure of Marshal Masséna over winter 1810/11.

Arthur Wellesley Duke of Wellington

The following year much
had changed. With extended campaigning under their belts, by 1812 the
British Army’s battalions and brigades had learnt the art of war
and how to defeat the French in battle. Increasingly useful
Portuguese troops became a part of the Army’s divisions. Wellington
was, however, plagued throughout the war by the imposition of
indifferent senior offices by Horse Guards. The Royal Navy played its
part in conducting littoral operations on the Peninsula’s long
coastline but the main effort of tying down the French in garrisons
throughout the vast country fell to the Spanish.

The Spanish Army, often
over criticised by British historians, was indeed tying down French
armies scattered across the Peninsula, while bands of guerrilleros
made even the simplest act of war difficult for the French. The
passing of messages, the movement of small bodies of troops and
logistics all required large numbers of troops as escorts.

Spanish troops

Wellington, building on
the foundations of success in battle, was increasingly able to
coordinate the activities of allied armies and induce a parsimonious
Government at home to reinforce him with fresh troops. The Board of
Ordinance system of supplying the army, however, took longer to
refine and in those self-same conditions that exercised the French at
one of Europe’s extremities, was never entirely reliable. None the
less with French troops being sucked away to reinforce the Grande
Armee for the invasion of Russia in early 1812, the situation was
increasingly favourable for offensive operations out of Portugal and
into Spain.

The early months of the
year had seen the successful sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz and
their bloody aftermath, as the British soldiers reaped the
traditional fruits of victory; an enduring stain on the reputation of
Wellington’s Peninsular Army. These two Spanish fortresses strongly
held by the French were the ‘Keys to Spain’, the taking of which
was a necessary precursor to the invasion of French occupied Spain.

The Campaign in Spain
climaxed at the Battle of Salamanca but in the aftermath Wellington
was drawn, arguably against his best military instincts, to advance
into central Spain where he liberated Madrid and went on to besiege
Burgos. Faced with a serious reverse, the hitherto uncooperative
French Marshals joined to force the British, in what would be the
last dreadful retreat, back to the mountainous borders of Portugal
where they wintered.

The Spring of 1813 saw
the wholesale reorganisation of the Army to conduct the campaign that
the Duke had in mind. This was to be a blitzkrieg-like march
across northern Spain to cut the Great Road in summer temperatures.
For this, the traditional infantryman’s burden had to be lightened
significantly. As spring warmed the veterans bones, great coats were
handed in. The men would rely on blankets alone, which could be used
in groups to make blanket tents, but tents were issued along with the
mules to carry them. Also gone were the heavy iron camp kettles which
proved to be such a sore burden to the infantry section; a light
metal mess tin being issued for the first time.

Wellington's 1813 campaign plan - columns and flanking forces to cut the Great Road back to France

No doubt to the horror of
Whitehall, Wellington authorised the expenditure of an uncommonly
large amount of ball and powder for marksmanship and volley firing,
particularly for the newly arrived units. Training was not confined
to musketry but drill and tactics were developed and soldiers were
conditioned for the task that lay ahead of them by a series of long
marches.

When the Army left
Portugal on its lightening march east in May 1813, it was a very
different force from that which landed in the Peninsula five years
earlier. In the rugged terrain the British soldier knew his job
inside out; he could take on the French and win in a campaign that
would culminate on the very borders of France.

A full length documentary
by Battlefield History TV, the third part in the Peninsular
Collection, looks at the gruelling 1813 Campaign through the eyes of
the 95th Rifles. The team follow the march across central
Spain, to the battlefield of Vittoria, on to San Sebastian and up
into the Pyrenees Mountains. This short film is a taster of what can
be found in ‘95th Rifles 1812 to the Pyrenees’.

Taking it Further

The Peninsular Collection - The Keys of Spain(DVD)
ISBN: 5060247620206

Only £12.99
RRP £16.99

The Keys of Spain – Siege Warfare is the next DVD in The Peninsular Collection from BHTV and Pen and Sword Digital. Building on events described in the Salamanca DVD, the BHTV team explain the siege warfare tactics of the British and the French during the period and explore the build up and epic battles fought in Spain before the Battle of Salamanca in July 1812.

Taking it Further

Salamanca(DVD)
ISBN: 5060247620183

Only £12.99
RRP £16.99

Since his return to the Iberian Peninsula in 1809, General Arthur Wellesley (later The Duke of Wellington) had with his small army been a constant thorn in the side of a series of Napoleon's Marshals in Spain, studiously avoiding battles that he could not win and falling back before superior forces to the Lines of Torres Vedras in 1810. By 1812 he had forged a successful Anglo Portuguese Army with a string of victories to their credit that included Talavera, Bussaco and Fuentes de Onoro.

Taking it Further

FOLLOWING THE GREAT VICTORY AT SALAMANCA in July 1812 the Anglo- Portuguese Army, with the 95th Rifles to the fore, marched to liberate Madrid. While Wellington advanced to Burgos the Light Division remained to enjoy the unusual civilization of the Spanish capital. However, this was short lived as the French Marshals had been forced to unite under King Joseph against the Allied armies and the siege of Burgos failed. Another desperate retreat to the Portuguese frontier in appalling autumn weather conditions followed in which the 95th suffered cruelly as supply…Read more at Pen & Sword Books...